In the competitive restaurant tech space, delivering a seamless onboarding experience can mean the difference between a thriving customer relationship and early churn. For Zenchef, a leading restaurant reservation platform operating across five European countries, this challenge was magnified by multilingual requirements and an ambitious growth trajectory.

This is the story of how one decision - switching from Pendo to Jimo - transformed Zenchef's product experience, cut onboarding time in half, and set the stage for an AI-powered future.

Meet Zenchef: Europe's Restaurant Platform on the Rise

Zenchef provides a comprehensive reservation system and platform for restaurants, operating across multiple European markets including France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium, and the Netherlands. As the preferred platform for restaurateurs in Europe, the company balances rapid growth with the complexity of serving diverse markets in multiple languages.

At the helm of product development is Florian Labadens, who joined as SVP Product about eight months ago. With a lean yet mighty team of 11 professionals (seven product managers, three designers, and one product ops specialist), Florian oversees everything from product strategy to customer onboarding, all while navigating the aftermath of three acquisitions in a single year.

"We run a hyper-flat organization," explains Florian. "My team is responsible for driving our North Star metric, the NPS, while also managing platform migrations, enhancing onboarding processes, and improving feature adoption across five languages."

The Challenge: A Multilingual Onboarding Marathon

Before implementing Jimo, Zenchef faced a perfect storm of onboarding challenges:

• Lengthy onboarding cycles: The process took up to 30 days, creating a dangerous window for potential churn

• Language complexity: Supporting five languages (French, German, Portuguese, Dutch, and English) created significant maintenance overhead

• Resource intensity: Manual touches dominated the onboarding process, stretching the team thin

• Brand inconsistency: Difficult-to-customize tools created a disjointed experience between the core product and onboarding materials

• Escalating costs: Their previous solution, Pendo, was significantly increasing prices without delivering proportional value

"We know from our data that if onboarding takes more than 30 days, we're twice as likely to lose that customer within six months," Florian reveals. "Every day we could shave off that process represented real business impact."

Why Zenchef Switched from Pendo to Jimo

Florian's decision to make the switch wasn't taken lightly, but several factors made it increasingly clear that Jimo offered a superior solution:

1. Beyond Basic Translation

"We operate in five languages," Florian explains. "With Pendo, the translation process was a nightmare—exporting files, using external tools, and reimporting. Jimo's DeepL integration saved us days of manual work."

2. Price Without the Surprise

As Pendo continued to increase their pricing, the value equation became increasingly questionable. Jimo offered a more reasonable pricing structure that aligned with Zenchef's budget while providing more relevant features.

3. Brand Harmony

"Jimo lets us create a seamless experience that feels truly ours," says Florian. "The ability to tailor onboarding and feature tours to match our branding has completely elevated the user journey."

4. A Different Class of Service

Perhaps most compelling was Jimo's approach to customer support.

"Jimo's customer service is beyond anything I've seen. It's not just reactive, it's over-active," Florian emphasizes. "I can ping them on Slack and have a thoughtful, actionable response within hours. That proximity and care is rare, and it's become a game-changer for us."

Transformation in Action: How Jimo Changed the Game

Implementing Jimo created immediate and notable impacts across several critical areas:

Onboarding Acceleration

"We cut our onboarding time in half—from 30 days to just 14—and we're on track to reach under 2 hours for self-service," Florian reports. "That kind of acceleration just wasn't possible before Jimo."

The team's ambitious goals include achieving 80% self-service onboarding with less than one manual touch, a target that now feels within reach thanks to Jimo's Resource Center and guided tours.

Multilingual Mastery

Operating across five European markets means language flexibility isn't just nice-to-have; it's business-critical. Jimo's smart translation capabilities streamlined what was previously a cumbersome process.

"With Jimo, localization is finally effortless," says Florian. "Their DeepL integration saved us days of manual work compared to our previous solution."

Reduced Support Burden

By improving the onboarding process and providing better in-app guidance, Jimo is helping Zenchef reduce the volume of support tickets for self-onboarded clients, a key indicator of successful product adoption.

Enhanced Feature Adoption

Zenchef now leverages Jimo's changelog triggers and guided tours to boost feature usage and track engagement through success trackers. This visibility enables the team to make data-driven decisions about product development priorities.

Positive Metric Movement

"With Jimo, every metric we care about moved in the right direction—faster onboarding, fewer support tickets, better adoption, and ultimately, happier customers," Florian confirms.

The Secret Ingredient: Service Beyond Software

While Jimo's technical capabilities drove significant results, Florian repeatedly emphasizes that the level of service has been the true differentiator:

• Unparalleled responsiveness: Responses typically arrive within 24 hours, often much faster

• Dedicated Slack channel: Direct access to the Jimo team creates a collaborative problem-solving environment

• Solution-oriented approach: When challenges arise, the Jimo team focuses on finding alternatives rather than limitations

• Expertise on demand: The ability to quickly schedule calls with knowledgeable team members adds tremendous value

"What stands out most is how Marwan and Samuel from Jimo don't just respond to our questions, they actively think about our specific challenges and find tailored solutions," Florian notes. "It's a partnership, not just a vendor relationship."

Looking Ahead: The AI-Powered Horizon

While the current implementation has already transformed Zenchef's onboarding process, Florian is particularly excited about Jimo's future roadmap, especially the AI integration potential.

"What excites me most is where Jimo is heading," he says. "The idea of an AI-powered onboarding concierge isn't a dream—with Jimo, it feels like it's just around the corner."

Florian anticipates that the newly released Salesforce integration will further optimize their sales orchestration, allowing for even more targeted user experiences based on customer data.

The Bottom Line: Results That Speak for Themselves

The switch to Jimo has delivered meaningful business outcomes for Zenchef:

• ~50% reduction in onboarding time (from 30 days to 14 days)

• On track for 2-hour self-service onboarding

• Working toward ~80% self-service rate with minimal manual touches

• Improved customer satisfaction and product mastery

• Reduced support ticket volume for self-onboarded clients

• Enhanced feature adoption through better in-app guidance

• Streamlined processes across five languages

"Switching from Pendo to Jimo was like going from a clunky machine to a sleek, well-tuned engine," Florian summarizes. "It's easier, more powerful, and far more aligned with how we want to engage users, especially across five languages."

A Product Leader's Recommendation

When asked how he would explain Jimo to fellow product leaders, Florian's approach is straightforward:

"When I talk to other product leaders, I just ask: 'Is your onboarding perfect?' If not, you need to try this small French company that's quietly transforming how products engage users—and doing it with incredible service."

For growing companies navigating the challenges of product-led growth, multi-language support, and streamlined onboarding, Zenchef's experience with Jimo offers a compelling roadmap to success.

Ready to transform your product's onboarding experience? Schedule a demo with Jimo today and discover how we can help you cut onboarding time, boost feature adoption, and deliver an exceptional user experience.